I saw a picture with a cassette tape and a pencil on Facebook the other day and it made me think about all the amazing mix tapes I made as a teenager. There was definitely an art to the mix tape: managing theme throughout, track lengths, making sure a song didn’t cut off mid way when you were getting closer to the end of the side. And, if you needed to do a little mix tape surgery, then a #2 pencil and scotch tape could be your best friend.

With the digitization of music, the art of the mix tape has been lost. Sure, you can make “playlists” but that sense of song discovery when someone gives you an unlabelled mix tape is basically gone.

Until my friend show me a website called 8tracks. It’s about as close as you’re going to get to the joys of mix tapes. In fact, I’ve even found my love for mix tapes renewed. I’ve made four so far, I have one almost done, and I have another brewing. I feel so passionate about music again.